Detección rápida de objeto usando cascadas optimizadas de características simples

As stated in chapter 5, developments relating to language in Wales are mostly related to the relationship between English and Welsh. Legislation plays a key role in this respect. Parliament weakened the position of Welsh, and Parliament strengthened it, at least until devolution, when competence was granted to the Welsh government over matters pertaining to the Welsh language. Thus, when considering language legislation in Wales, this is mostly legislation regarding Welsh. These pieces of legislation, whether from Westminster or the devolved legislature, are not about translation per se—laws rarely are—but nonetheless have translation policy implications.

Currently, the Welsh Language Act 1993 has important implications for

translation in Wales. The Act is an example of a policy that supports the maintenance of the Welsh language. It focuses on providing a wide range of public services

through that minority language, including education, healthcare, social welfare, and in communication with public authorities, including the executive, judicial, and legislative branches (Dunbar 2001b, 234-235). As stated in chapter 5, the Welsh Language Act 1993 generally establishes “the principle that in the conduct of public business and the administration of justice in Wales the English and Welsh languages should be treated on a basis of equality” (introduction). Under the Act, the Welsh Language Board is established (an Advisory Welsh Language Board was in existence between 1988 and 1993) to promote the use of Welsh by approving Welsh Language Schemes created by certain public bodies. Welsh Language Schemes are documents that spell out how each public body will put in practice the principle of equality between English and Welsh. These documents therefore become the vehicle to

7 This section on Wales does not cover obligations under the ECRML. The UK accepted the treaty’s obligations when it ratified the treaty. However, instead of creating new legislation, the UK chose to ratify the treaty provisions (under Part III) that were already in effect for Welsh (Dunbar 2003b, 43-44).

promote Welsh in public spaces (Dunbar 2003a, 151). In other words, while the legal principle of equality is set forth in the Act, it is the Welsh Language Schemes that implement the principle (Morgan 2007, 44).

It is worth noting that under the Welsh Language Act 1993 no individual rights to “public services through the medium of Welsh” were created (Dunbar 2003a, 151).

An individual right to use the Welsh language in court was created via the Welsh Language Act 1967 (also present in the latter Welsh Language Act). While much translation takes place in efforts to fulfill the Welsh Language Act 1993, it does not create individual rights but rather administrative obligations. Dunbar indicates the system created by the Welsh Language Act 1993 is based on “administrative enabling”

or a “planning-based” model (ibid., 150).

Neither the 1967 or 1993 acts explicitly require that translation must take place.

They are, after all, not laws about translation but rather about strengthening the position of the Welsh language. Treating English and Welsh “on a basis of equality”

requires a broad set of strategies, including Welsh-medium education. More pertinently for current purposes, these strategies also include comprehensive translation efforts. This is reflected in the Welsh Language Schemes, which address an array of issues, among them the use of translation as a tool to meet the obligations imposed by the Act⁸ (Huws 2006, 150). The Welsh Language Schemes address

matters such as dealing with the public in writing, over the phone, and in person. In so doing, issues of translation into and from Welsh come up recurrently. Thus, while the Act is not framed in terms of translation policy, its implementation results in policies of on-going translation between English and Welsh for public bodies. This is particularly true when it comes to written translations, since the schemes often call for bilingual documents or sister documents (one in each language). If there are bilingual or sister documents, translation has to take place in order to produce the

8 Understanding the need for translators in order to strengthen the position of Welsh, the Welsh Language Board became active in promoting translation, including giving substantial funding to Cymdeithas Cyfieithwyr Cymru/The Association of Welsh Translators and Interpreters (United Kingdom 2002, 34). While membership in the association “is not obligatory for translators and interpreters working in Wales,” institutions and organizations are encouraged to use

translators/interpreters who have been accredited by the association (ibid. 2009, 185).

texts in both languages. Regarding interpreting, logic would dictate that the need for interpreters should decline as a greater percentage of the staff in public bodies and the general population becomes bilingual in Welsh and English. As more staff can communicate directly in both Welsh and English, less interpreting would need to take place.

Another Parliamentary enactment that has important implications for translation in Wales is the Government of Wales Act 2006. The Act updates and

expands the Government of Wales Act 1998, which had created the National Assembly for Wales. The 2006 act created an executive body in Wales (known as the Welsh Government), which includes Welsh Ministers who “may do anything which they consider appropriate to support […] the Welsh language” (section 61). In doing this, the Welsh Ministers are to adopt “a strategy to promote and facilitate” the use of Welsh (section 78). This Act reaffirms the policy of

supporting/promoting/facilitating the use of the Welsh language, which implies, among other things, a translation effort in order to strengthen the position of Welsh as compared to English.

Under the 2006 act, the Assembly could pass “Measures” in the areas where the devolved government has competence.⁹ One of the Measures that is significant for Welsh language policy and may affect translation is the Welsh Language Measure 2011. The Measure was adopted in order to modernize the Welsh Language Act 1993.

Among the most significant provisions in the Measure is that of the abolishment of the Welsh Language Board and the establishment of a Welsh Language

Commissioner “to promote and facilitate the use of the Welsh language” (section 3(1)). The Welsh Language Commissioner understands the key role of translation in promoting and facilitating the use of Welsh. This is evidenced in her public support of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol’s (a public body set up to further Welsh-medium education in Wales’ universities) decision to move forward with the creation of a

9 Pursuant to sections 103-105 of the Government of Wales Act 2006, a referendum was held on 3 March 2011 which gave the Assembly power to enact Acts as opposed to Measures (National Assembly for Wales 2011). This means, among other things, that the Assembly can no longer pass Measures, but the validity of any Measure passed before the referendum is unaffected by the change.

school of translation and interpreting studies (James 2014). Further, the Welsh Language Commissioner has asked Cymdeithas Cyfieithwyr Cymru (The

Association of Welsh Translators and Interpreters) to regulate the English/Welsh translation profession and partially funds some of Cymdeithas Cyfieithwyr Cymru’s activities (ibid.). These pushes are linked to ensuring quality in translation between the English and Welsh languages (ibid.).

Another important change brought about by the Welsh Language Measure 2011 is that of the abolishment of the Welsh Language Schemes in favor of Welsh

Language Standards. The Standards are to be applied across specified areas (service delivery, policy making, record keeping, etc.) and will gradually replace the

Schemes. The Standards are intended to provide clear, consistent guidelines across organizations regarding the use of the Welsh language in providing services. For example, the standard for service delivery should promote the use of the Welsh language when organizations deliver services. How these Standards will affect translation in Wales remains to be seen, but it is hard to imagine they will not have translation implications. These implications are likely to be significant because the standards will apply to a broad array of organizations, including the police, local health boards, local government councils, and some tribunals. The Welsh Language Commissioner proposed Standards in late 2012, after public consultation, to the minister with responsibility for Welsh. In early 2013, these standards were rejected by said minister, and the Welsh Government issued a consultation document on a new set of Standards in early 2014 (which will be addressed in chapter 7). As of this writing, the policy to place the Welsh language on parity with English continues to be applied through the Schemes.

Until such a time as the Standards fully replace the Welsh Language Schemes, the Welsh Language Commissioner has issued an advice document on drafting, translating and interpreting (Welsh Language Commissioner 2012b, 1). The

document provides guidelines on how to arrange a translation in house, how to use language technology for translation, how to commission a translation to an external provider, how to provide interpreting for bilingual meetings, and how to best draft bilingual documents. The advice document is guided by the principles that “[i]n

Wales, the Welsh language should be treated no less favourably than the English language” and that “[p]ersons in Wales should be able to live their lives through the medium of the Welsh language if they choose to do so” (ibid., i).

Within the legal framework described above, the Welsh Government has issued a policy document called A Living Language: A Language for Living (2011). It supersedes the previous policy document (Iaith Pawb: A National Action Plan for a Bilingual Wales) and will be in effect until the end of 2017. The document indicates the Welsh Government’s desire to make Welsh a strong, everyday language (ibid., 14).

This is to be achieved through a long list of actions aimed at acquisition and use of Welsh in Wales.

Translation plays a role in achieving these policy objectives. Thus, the Welsh Government indicates it will “[e]xplore the possibility of improving access to translation services for community groups and third sector organisations” in order have more Welsh used at the community level (ibid., 36). The implication is that in many parts of Wales, community groups and non-profit organizations operate mostly in English and may lack the resources to translate into Welsh.¹⁰ Further, in accordance with this policy, the Welsh Minister responsible for the language awarded £35,000 for the year 2012/2013 in order to continue funding a service that provides free translations into Welsh for private and third-sector organizations (ibid.

2012).

What can be gleaned from this is that the Welsh Government understands that Welsh needs a strong dose of governmental support in order to grow, and that

translation is an important part of that support. In other words, translation is a tool for promoting the use of the language at the community level. Naturally, it is not the only tool. Education and the media are two other important tools, and this is

reflected in the policy document, but translation is also part of the picture. In efforts

10 In this scenario in particular, the Welsh Government wishes to explore specifically the use of translation from English into Welsh by “community groups and third sector organisations.” Even so, generally speaking, in Wales translation between English and Welsh moves in both directions: from English into Welsh and from Welsh into English. I cannot ascertain at this point whether there is more translation into English or into Welsh. This is a question that can be answered through large-scale, quantitative research that, to the best of my knowledge, is yet to take place.

to promote a language, education through the medium of that language is important because it teaches children in the language; the media, in turn, affords the

opportunity to be exposed to the language in a very powerful, continuous way.

However, when the language being promoted is not the dominant language,

translation becomes a tool that helps create the conditions for learners and speakers of the promoted language to use it in a meaningful way. This is especially true when policy aims at a bilingual society. The importance of translation is stressed in A Living Language —it calls for public organizations and professional translators (including interpreters) “to cooperate in exploiting opportunities for improved

efficiencies, and for making more effective use of scarce resources, in the provision of Welsh-/English-language translation and interpretation services” (ibid. 2011, 36).

If the promotion of Welsh is successful enough, Welsh will eventually close the gap with English in terms of fluent speakers. At that point, bilingual staff will be able to take over many of the tasks that are now the province of professional

translators (ibid.). As suggested earlier, a staff that is fully bilingual would not need interpreters to communicate with speakers of Welsh or English. Further, a staff that is fully bilingual would be able to do some tasks (such as receiving letters in both languages) without translation and would also be able to carry out the roles of translators in other tasks (such as producing bilingual documentation). Notice that even in a situation of full bilingualism by the staff, translation would still take place—it would simply not be carried out by external translators. In a nutshell, fully bilingual institutions cannot exist without some translation.